[phoenixxphyre]

I know the complaints ppl have are legitimate, etc...and this isn't *such* a big deal, but if you need one thing to like about FL right now just be glad you're not getting May snow showers, which is what it's supposed to be like up here (and since it went from abotu 60 to 43 in a few hours, I can believe it).

[Lisa_from_Debary]

My sister was in Vail of the weekend and said it was snowing, it was in the high 80s here...I much prefer the warm weather here thanks.

[phoenixxphyre]

I was thinking of moving to CO as a midway point to CA because I have a friend who lives there and there are some editing jobs. Then they got like a foot of snow in April and I was like nah, I'd rather have a 9mos summer than winter, so I'll move to FL (where I've actually seen more job opportunities). I can always get out to CA when I get more experience if Iwant to, but who knows, I might stay, unlike CO where I'd have probably stayed a year or two max.

[Lisa_from_Debary]

Alot of people recall the hurricane season of 2004 when Florida as a place to live comes up in conversation. I have spoken to native Floridians who have said they have NEVER seen anything like it. That season was not the norm.
Every area has something awful that goes on AND I would rather deal with the occasional Hurricane then anything the rest of the US has to deal with. I can't count the days when I can get up and put on a pair of shorts and sandals while my sister in Colorado is freezing her butt off...dealing with a blizzard or some such nonsense.

[phoenixxphyre]

Yeah I think ppl forget that snow can be just as bad if not worse. We had a blizzard in OH and some ppl lost power (which means pipes burst from lack of heat; you freeze if you're not huddled in blankets) and you still need a lot of the same supplies as hurricanes (food, water, etc). I've never been through a hurricane and only once been close enough to a tornado to have it be a thraet, but taking those two risks here to a hurricane with warning (two things that dont' seem to be very accurately determined when snow or tornados are coming) and being warm the rest of the time

[oceandreams94]

Yeah that is one thing about Illinois that I am not going to miss! LOL!

[Lisa_from_Debary]

After a hurricane has gone through, there are plenty of places to go, to get out of the heat. I went down the highway a couple exits, there were no power outages there, I got a hotel room and waited until the power was back on, that was after Hurricane Charley. My daughter spent some quality time by the pool.

After hurricane Francis, we went to Disney, got a hotel room, spent MORE quality time by the pool.

During a snowstorm, you can't get around because of the snow...I would rather be hot from a power outage then cold. Orlando has so many hotel rooms, you can always find something if you can't stand to stay at home until the power is fixed...

One of the things I found so sad was this last winter, people were getting so much snow on their rooves that they were caving in...

IF you want to be super prepared...get ourself a massive generator, the kind that gets bolted to a concrete slab...get an electrician to wire it straight into your breaker box...when the power goes out, chug chug and up it goes and its all good. The only thing you really need is power for AC and TV. I have a gas stove so cooking isn't a problem with no power. The newer generators run off natural gas as well rather then the liquid GOLD we put in our gas tanks.

I'm a big believer in changing building codes to reflect the kind of weather has in a certain region...we learned in hurricane Francis that the walls of our houses could leak if the water blew against them long enough...duh...Hurricane Andrew changed alot of building regulations as well. They make windows now that even if you beat on them with a baseball bat, they don't break...there are things you can do to be safe even in the face of a threatening hurricane...

[TriMT7]

As the tragedy in Kansas this past weekend shows, where an F-5 tornado leveled a town and killed 9 after sweeping down out of the blue.... I'll take my chances in Florida with hurricanes that give you one to two weeks notice to get out!

Tornadoes in Florida are frequent statistically speaking, but typically are small little whirlwinds and rarely over F-1 in scope!!

[jaxcurious]

I like that it's May 7th and I have my doors and windows open and a beautiful breeze is wafting through my house and the palm trees are dancing away. I know it will get hot soon but tell me... where will it NOT be hot soon?

[Lisa_from_Debary]

Jax, I love the same thing about Florida...I love the palm trees...I love the heat, I love the rain in the afternoons...

Someday I want to build my own house, I plan on putting in a panic room of sorts...more for bad weather like hurricanes then someone breaking in though. Concrete all around, heavy door. Use it for a closet or something when not hiding there.

I LOVE Florida because I can wear shorts and sandals just about year around. When I visited Texas a year and a half ago, I didn't even have the appropriate clothes anymore, I arrived with sandals on and they had ice and snow on the ground.